Bad news: Coach Wonka insists that checks be written out to Team Oompa directly, not to the fighters. (Pic: Smosh.com)

The little guys will get a chance to make their debut in the UFC, just not as soon as earlier predicted. Dana White is now eying early 2012—not the end of this year—as a likely introduction of the Flyweight class.

In addition to the frantic pace that the diminutive fighters bring to the cage, they could potentially help tip the scales in Zuffa’s favor as they try to break into the Japanese MMA market. Many consensus top-10 Flyweight mixed martial artists hail from the Land of the Rising Sun, and with the whole Akiyama thing not working out so well, they could use dozens of tiny helping hands in their efforts abroad.

Just as we saw with the addition of the Bantam and Featherweight divisions, White expects many fighters to shed some pounds when the opportunity to compete in a lower weight class presents itself. Some fighters have allegedly already begun that process.

Cagepotato Comments

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Can't wait, DJ Mighty Mouse could make 125 if he wanted and he's fighting for the belt at 135, Benavidez will prolly' go down, theres some great fights to be seen.

RwilsonR- August 13, 2011 at 9:13 pm

I guess if the UFC wants to return to Japan this is a good idea. I know I'll probably get shit for this(sorry Karma), but I dont think this is a great move for the UFC. Even though I agree the little guys have great fights, I think the UFC already has a tough task of making household names out of the Featherweights and Bantamweights to the casual fans. Casual fans also have trouble keeping track of the current UFC champions, and this further dilutes the amount of names and divisions they need to be able to follow to maintain interest in an event.
Lastly, the UFC adding an additional weight class worth of fighters to their roster only means it is going to be a certainty that after two straight losses a fighter will be cut, since they won't want to keep so many fighters on contract. Higher turnover and faster turnaround of fighters on contract means it will be that much harder to build up name recognition for any fighter who is not absolutely dominant. Just as a fighter builds up some name recognition, if he takes a stumble in a couple of fights near the top of the division, he will be all the more likely to be cut.
The good news is that the likelihood of ever seeing women in the UFC just went down. Yay to all of us who don't think the NBA and the WNBA should merge!

I'm excited, as this means Ian McCall is going to be in the UFC. He's done well reinventing himself since dropping to flyweight after being axed from the WEC

Darkside- August 13, 2011 at 2:03 pm

I wonder what the average weight of a midget is. Not trying to be a smartass, just wondering if we have a shot at seeing midget MMA in the UFC. Just hearing Joe Rogan announcing the fights would have to be priceless.